fixtheworld

The Worst Idea I Have Heard All Year

Posted from the US

A Florida pastor from a church named the Dove World Outreach Center has decided that on 9/11 this year he wants to celebrate by holding a Koran burning on the property of his church.

Please. Please. Put this really bad idea back under some dark rock and squish it and just call it a day. 

The idea is so noxious that it prompted  General Petraeus to declare its overall stupidity and potential hazard to US troops. 

The pastor, his church, and his idea have become global media sensations - he may be loving the attention. Maybe he thinks he can't back down now.

Let me offer a suggestion: You sure can back down now. When a US general asks you to back down, isn't that enough?

To simultaneously add to the hazard US troops face overseas, and to truly insult the entire Muslim world - that has to rate as one of the WORST IDEAS I HAVE HEARD ALL YEAR. 

 -R 

On Semi-Vegetarians and Flexitarians

Posted from the US

One of the newest memes buzzing about is this idea of being a semi-vegetarian or a flexitarian.

I have been a vegetarian (technically a ovo-lacto vegetarian) since I was about 11 (when I became acutely aware where my hamburger was coming from).

There is much debate about this semi-vegetarian idea, which can be broken into roughly 2 camps:

• Those who embrace it as "eating less meat is good, let's not be puritanical about it"
• Those who are absolutist "vegan or die!"

Here is one opposing view to the whole idea of being a semi-vegetarian:

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/why-we-must-reject-the-happy-meat-and-flexible-vegan-movement

(Peter Singer and a few others take a bashing here).

One of the current "it" authors out there is Jonathan Safran Foer, who wrote about (and has influenced) the "new" vegetarian ideas:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-12-10-Eatingmeat10_ST_N.htm

The whole thinking seems to be more about anti-factory farming, anti-pollution - "the earth factor, the gross factor". It seems that the friendly, organic meat farm is not seen as the same level of scary Evil as the factory farm - so eating meat that has been hand-raised and treated well is not seen as problematic.

There surely is a difference between the factory farm and the small, well cared for organic farm on the scale of Evil (let's reference Google's Do No Evil Unless We Can Make $ here). The factory farm's Evil points must rank higher. The small organic farm's motto is "We Are Not As Evil". 

But come on - what are they doing? They are both basically killing animals for us to eat.

There is a binary position here:

• Do I eat animals that needed to die for me to eat this sandwich/soup/burger?
• Perhaps my fleeting hunger can be satisfied better without ending an animal's life?

Our hunger is not binary - there are many, many, many non-killing ways to eat, and we can eat really, really well without meat. But for the animal it's very binary: I live, I don't live.

So while I'm all for reducing the amount of animals that are suffering and eaten, the real change that we need in people is one from being selfish to unselfish:

• Selfish - I'm vegan/vegetarian because it is healthy/fights cancer/I can lose weight/it's trendy
• Unselfish - I'm not eating meat because no animal has to die to fill my belly

As humans we are granted very little power and control over life - but we have immense power and capabilities over death. Too much actually. Being vegetarian can be about giving up our power to kill - we surely have it, but do we need to use it?

When we are young the cold, harsh realities of life are hidden from us. But as we grow up the veil is lifted and we peer into this dark place. But we can look into that abyss and refuse to partake of it. 

-R

Why Politicians Who Talk About Religion Scare The Crap Out Of Me

Posted From The US

Don't they scare the crap out of you?

Here is a sure fire formula for intolerance:

People Soon To Be In Power + Some Religion Where People Claim To Know It All = Scary Bad Stuff.

Why do we confuse Freedom Of Religion with The Freedom To Shove My Religion Down Your Throat?

I'm very nervous about atheists who fanatically claim Darwinism as their religion of absolute faith (heck even Darwin would claim some uncertainty about his theories) and overly sure religions folks who want to blend politics and belief. 

Keep 'em separated people.

What makes America one of the greatest places on earth is that we allow everyone, of every religion and faith and non-faith, to live here, freely. Let's keep it that way.

Politicians pandering to religious groups and adopting the language and trappings of faith are moving in opposition to the founding principles of this country. What are your leadership skills? Your ability to to manage complex data and make decisions? What are your shared values - ones that reach every citizen?

Why are you qualified to have the power of governance over us? 

Your religious beliefs? Keep this to a minimum. Keep that in your private life. Explain how they will not lead you to make decisions that alienate those who do not share your beliefs.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances"

-R

On The Mosque At Ground Zero

Posted From The US

Here we go - a nice fat n' juicy topic: the Mosque at Ground Zero. Please add the cheese, pickles, and mayo.

Almost everything I have read on the topic can be divided into the following:

• This is in really bad taste, how dare you, the 9/11 terrorists were Muslim.
• This is America - all religions are free to do as they please.
• The Mosque will be a friendship outreach center, an antidote to terrorism.

Well.

The more I read about the founders of the US - the more I like where they were going with the whole thing, and the more I freak out about what people today think they were about. We tend to associate America with the the idea of Freedom Of Religion. But the deeper I go into how the original coders thought, the more I realize that they meant:

Freedom From Religion.

Now what does this mean? I do not think it means that they were against religion, or that they were all atheists. I really think it means that they wanted a country relatively free from religion in the public and political sphere. It was the noxious mix of oppressive religion and intolerance in Europe that drove many to cross the Atlantic Ocean in crappy little wooden sailboats(!) Imagine how bad it must have been to risk everything just for a little breath of freedom from the oppression of crazed religious folks in power.

In my own life I have friends from every spectrum of faith (and lack of faith) and religion: Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, Atheists, Wiccans, Agnostics, Spaghetti Monsters Folks - everything and everyone. What has really helped all of these friendships is that our discussions are mostly free from discussing religion - and if and when we infrequently do, it is not a battle of right vs. wrong but one of trying to learn about some cultural tradition and then quickly back to a topic which does not involve religion. 

It is one of the things I love the most about the idea of America - religion as a non-issue: do your thing, but let me do my own thing, and let's be tolerant and not in each other's face about it. Keep religion as a somewhat private, personal, family thing - you do not have to hide it, but let's not make a big deal about it. Nothing is more personal - when we die, each of us will face whatever we believe (or do not believe) in. Religion needs to become largely a non-issue.

So what about the Mosque at Ground Zero? The organizers (because this is America) are surely free to build the Mosque. Should they keep in mind that it is probably in bad taste? Yes. I would recommend that they sit down with the families of those who died in 9/11 and really find out if this is helping to build bridges of friendship and peace. How about taking the same money and donating it to the kids of the victims and helping them all through college? How about taking taking that same money and building schools of tolerance and liberal thought in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where it is sorely needed. Are you really trying to extend a hand of friendship? If so, this symbolic act may be not the right move - and there are always ways to adapt - it is not too late. 

But most importantly - this is America. It is our distinct freedom of, and from, religion, that allows to have this discussion at all. Maybe all religions need to take a small step back, and just let people come forward, and we'll all realize what has been in our way, and that we do have many things in common, once we let the walls of politics and religion take a backseat.

Maybe we all believe in G-d, or something, or not - but how and why we do should not be dividing us anymore. I have my own beliefs in G-d, my own sense of religion - but I also have to leave open a window of uncertainty. Uncertainty that as I grow I will learn more and my understanding will surely continue to change and evolve (as it has), and that none of us can really know what is by definition beyond our capability to know - so we need to be highly tolerant of everyone and their own beliefs, as our own is surely flawed. We are human, as humans we are limited - the arrogance of those who claim to know everything is in my view the highest form of idolatry - because if they do believe in G-d, only G-d knows what they think they claim to know. If we were all much, much, more humble in our beliefs (believers, atheists, and everything in-between) the world would be a much better place.

So what would good old George Washington tell the builders of Mosque? I think he would sit down with them and have a long chat. This is America, my friends - you are welcome here, and you are also welcome to build here - in the spirit of freedom and friendship. But let's perhaps discuss a better place for your dollars. You don't have to agree with me, but at least let us sit down and talk. After all - this is why we fought and defeated the British King - it wasn't all about tea (at least not all of it!).

Stay thirsty!

-R

Jan 21, 2010

90 lashes for a 13 year old girl for bringing a cell phone to school?

Obama needs to call the Saudis and stop this.

-R

Death On A Factory Farm - Revisited

Posted from the US

I recently saw the HBO Film "Death on a Factory Farm" ( http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/deathfactoryfarm/index.html) - and I have not been able to sleep well since.

I have been a vegetarian since I was a kid, essentially because I always believed that there was something morally and ethically wrong for humans, in this day and age, to eat meat. The film reconfirms every horrible notion and reality about what really seems to be a fundamental evil.

Meat - bacon, ham, burgers, steaks, ribs, chicken, fish - there is no doubt that it tastes really good. Billions of people love meat - the notion of not eating meat does not compute. However.

Most people block from their minds where the meat came from (it's in a box on a bun, or in a hot dog pack at the supermarket). Most people do not realize what happens so that they can get their meat. Yes, someone else does bad things so I can get my meat, but damn it tastes sooo good. This group may be bothered by killing other creatures - but if they don't see it, it's ok.

A smaller minority actually kill for their meat - they fully realize what they are doing and understand what has to happen so that they can eat their yummy meat. On one level this group is at least more consistent and honest - but on another they scare the crap out of me. Not being bothered by killing is a problem - humans should be greatly disturbed by the act of killing anything.

In all cases a major problem is the concept of a creature who is there to die for you to eat it. A living creature as property with no to minimal rights. The assumption is that our ambitions, our fleeting sense of hunger, and overall sense of superiority over all life somehow allows us to do anything we want to other forms of life. This same thinking is found in human interactions - where one religion, race, sex, etc. feels that because it is superior somehow, that it now has a free license to use and abuse. This notion of use and abuse permeates the film, and the most disturbing aspect is how many people felt that they were doing nothing wrong.

In most religions and philosophies of life, there is the concept of achieving a higher state of being, of an expanded spiritual view - and a view that there is something inside. The view of Decartes that animals are machines with no feelings and no intrinsic value still widely persists today - and often it is compartmentalized - I love my dog, but cows are food.

I do believe that one day most, if not all, of humanity will wake up and realize what horrible things we have done, and continue to do, to other living creatures. The extent and magnitude of the horrors we have committed is almost beyond calculation, to billions and billions of living, sentient creatures.

I can not explain this divide, of those who get it and are extremely disturbed, and those who do not. It is a great divide - and many who do not get it can otherwise be warm, caring, and extremely nice people. And those who do can sometimes be terrible humans in many other regards. But in watching this film, in watching extreme abuse in action, the divide becomes clear.

I am always very accommodating and cordial when I eat with others who eat meat - I do not impose my views on them and generally do not push the issue. Is this wrong? Is meat murder? How and when will the world as a whole come to see, as it has slowly come to see other past evils, that this is yet another evil to one day abolish?

-R

On Being A Vegetarian

Posted from the US

Why be a vegetarian?

There are many reasons, but the ethical reasoning is by far (my view) the strongest.

I'm certain that one day (near or distant future) that eating meat will be seen as a vestige of our older, more primitive days. Eating meat may very well be ingrained in our DNA - it is likely part of our survival mechanism. Perhaps it is part of an older neural structure in our brains. Killing (we like wars) is probably tied into that part of the brain as well.

But we evolve, and evolving away from eating meat is a natural progression towards a societal structure that also views war as primitive, not neccessary, and something that we overcame as our minds and concepts evolved.

Being a vegetarian does not mean that one is enlightened, and it is also possible that many good and enlightened people are not vegetarian (yet). However, I do believe that on the path to becoming enlightened and evolved there comes the time when eating meat simply becomes seen as wrong.

There are many native cultures where killing animals is/was neccessary for survival - and the killing often took on a ritualistic meaning. However, in the modern world there are only weak arguments left for eating meat - our survival does not depend on it.

Some religious people believe that animals were placed here on earth for the sole purpose to provide sustenance and labor for man. That is a fairly egocentric, "the universe revolves around the earth" point of view. Our exploitation of animals is shameful and embaressing on many levels - but many do not see this yet. There was a time when people believed that some people should be slaves and that those people were somehow less than human and here on earth to serve. This idea was shattered, but vestiges of it still persist. Highly educated people believed and practiced complete nonsense.

Being an ethical vegetarian is a move beyond old nonsense - it is an acknowledgement that one is free of the mental bias and baggage that has plagued humanity for thousands of years. It is a view that places humans on a high plane - but not one that gives us the right to exploit others. That arrogant sense of right to use and exploit is something that we must overcome, all of us, one day.

Most (not all) of us are not in situations where our basic survival depends on hunting down food. We don't really care about cows, chickens, fish, and the other animals that we choose to eat. It seems silly and odd to even think about them as anything but living only to produce flesh for our consumption.

But think about it - in your own way and in your own time. It is wrong. You may not understand it now, or ever, or you may have flickers of understanding. When you were young maybe you understood this better - because when you were young you did not yet understand "the way the world works" - you did not yet understand the old, hardened way that has been passed down.

It is a leap - it is hard to understand - it is hard to relate. But to move on, this is one of the things we should try to understand. On this I have no doubt.

-R

Wise Words From a Friend

Posted from the US

A good friend always sends me "thoughts for the day"

In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.

Thomas Jefferson

indeed!

-r

Bloodless War

Posted from the US

Wouldn't it be nice if war could be bloodless? What if both sides in a conflict agreed to fight online, in some massively multiplayer wargame (ex: Counterstrike, America's Army)? We're used to cashless transactions and credit cards (who buys anything with hard dollars anymore?) - why not bloodless war?

This would let everyone from both sides to get in on the action: grandmothers, kids, even smart cats. It allows all the bottled up rage and hate to be vented out but when it is over we can all can sleep well at night. We could even see what Bush and Cheney are made of. I think a whole generation of kids are growing up playing video games that are so realistic that many of them do not need to experience the real thing (why fight a real war, you only get one life - in the online world you can play again and again and again).

At first glance this may sound like a really stupid idea - but hey, look at the alternative.

-R